The Bloodline of Faith

I have been contemplating for some time now what it means to be part of the family of God versus the family I was born into on this earth. This is a question Jesus also faced during his time on earth. People in his hometown of Nazareth spoke well of him, but knew him as Joseph’s son (Luke 4:22). They couldn’t see beyond him being a local boy, the son of a carpenter.

In Mark 6 we read how the people in his hometown were amazed at his teaching and his miracles (verse 2). They recognized he was doing amazing things, yet they could not see beyond his family ties. They remarked, “Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us (verse 3, NIV)?” They heard his teaching and saw his miracles, yet could not see beyond his local identity.

The blood lines of family can be strong, yet they can also create problems for us. Sometimes it is hard for us to get beyond the identity of our earthly family and to embrace that as believers in Jesus we are part of the family of God. Jesus said, when told his mother and brothers were waiting outside for him, “My mother and brothers are those who hear God’s word and put it into practice (Luke 8:21).”

As followers of Jesus Christ, we are part of a different bloodline, the blood of the cross. The sacrifice Jesus made for us, the blood that ran down the cross on the day he was crucified, enabled us to be part of the bloodline of God. “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ (Ephesians 2:13).” We are part of the family of God. “So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ (Galatians 3:26-27).”